In Costa Rica, fast food restaurant chains plan to open at least 14 new sales points in different areas of the country next year.
Some of the companies planning to expand their restaurant chain in 2019 include: Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Subway, KFC and QSR International, and their key commitment to further expansion will be to move into smaller locations.
At least twelve international clothing brands have announce the opening of stores in the country.
ETA Fashion, an Ecuadorian chain of department stores, Express, a north American brand of clothing and accessories for men and women, the Spanish franchise selling children's clothing Gocco, the Brazilian store Hering and the brand of Colombian menswear Arturo Calle, are some of new brands entering the Costa Rican market.
In an already saturated hamburger market another competitor is looking to set up franchisees throughout Central America.
The Smashburger chain will be the new player in the competitive hamburger market in Costa Rica, where the company plans to open three restaurants this year.
Smashburger, voted "Most Promising Company in America" by Forbes magazine, is based in Denver, Colorado.
This is the first of 10 branches that are planned to be opened over the next five years in Panama, by the company JV Panama SA, which owns the franchise.
The new Juan Valdez ® Coffee store will be located in the Trump Ocean Club International - Hotel & Tower Panama.
"Panama has become the tenth country where the Juan Valdez® brand has a presence. It represents an attractive market of great importance for the brand because of its concentration of tourism, per capita consumption of coffee, local economic growth and the widening of the port infrastructure promises to increase consumption through increased tourism and that the country expects in the next few years", reported Quepasapanama.com.
The new store will open in late September and will be the fifth by the chain in Central America.
The 270 square meter store will be located in Oakland Mall and will create 30 jobs.
'On 19 March the chain opened it’s his first branch in the country, located in the Pradera Concepción shopping center, and also recently opened the third Starbucks branch in San Salvador in the Galeries shopping center", writes Byron Dardón in Prensalibre.com
The Guatemalan Italian food chain announced expansion plans for the second half of 2011 in Honduras and El Salvador.
Francisco Fajardo, manager of the franchise said that they are in the process of analyzing the logistics of supplying ingredients either by creating a distribution center in each country or by sending them from Guatemala.
"In some restaurants we will have a joint venture and in other we will work thorough a franchise program," Waleska Zimeri, marketing manager at Al Macarone, told Prensalibre.com.
On March 19 the chain will open its first store at the Pradera Concepción Mall.
The inauguration increases the presence of coffee shops in the Guatemalan market, which currently has ten chains and small cafes competing for a market share.
"Francisco Pallarea, president of Café Cultura magazine, believes the market for coffee shops will become more competitive, reflected in service proposals and products currently offered, the chains who become static against Starbucks will lose their competitive edge and, therefore, their market share,” reported Elperiodico.com.gt.
The company will open its first shop at mall Pradera Concepción before March 2011.
With the supervision of the Salvadoran American Coffee Corporation, administrator of the franchise for Central America, the recruiting for employees began through Tecoloco.com.
"The arrival of Starbucks to the local market of Coffee Shops will represent a challenge for coffee chains like Barista, Cafe Saul and San Martin, focusing on a high socioeconomic segment operating in Pradera Concepcion, and indirectly to others like Coffee Cup & Café,” reported Elperiodico.com.gt.
The Coffee Cup, a gourmet coffee brand from El Salvador, opened the first of nine stores in the city of Grecia.
Elfinancierocr.com reports: "The salvadoran entrepreneur indicated that the contract with the costa rican company Coffe and Talk includes opening nine additional stores in different locations of Costa Rica, and the investment for each of them will be between $125.000 and $150.000, depending on location and size."